Sunday, 3 December -> Sestri Levante – Anyone up for an even richer hike on Sunday? As the weather is expected to be quite sunny (as anticipated yesterday), plan is to head to the Sestri Levante inland and explore the trails that lead to the mining town of Masso and its treasures. Legend has it that the biggest gold nugget ever extracted in Italy comes from here.
While we probably won’t come back with our pockets full of precious ore, visiting the town of Masso might lead to some surprises, since it will be hosting a Xmas market as well as some guided tours to the mines and the miraculous Loreto shrine. Also, the village is said to be a wonderful lookout point over the sea, so the time might be right to discover it.
In order to get to Masso, the easiest way (since I didn’t understand how the special shuttle buses work) is probably to take a bus from Sestri Levante to Castiglione Chiavarese. From Castiglione Chiavarese, we’ll take trail #56 to Masso, as described on https://www.sestri-levante.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CARTINA-SENTIERI-SESTRI-LEVANTE-1.pdf. It should be an easy 1 hour hike in the woods, along the Petronio river and across an ancient bridge.
After visiting Masso, we’ll probably head down to Moneglia, following trail #56 plus the Bracco-Moneglia path, that we took a couple of times when visiting the Davidin tavern. The second part of hike takes slightly more than 90 minutes.
How to get to Sestri Levante, and how to come back alive:
On Sunday, December 3, let’s meet at 10:30am by the entrance of Sestri Levante station.
Suggested trains to Sestri Levante (*):
if you travel eastwards:
REG – Genova Principe 09:11 (Genova Brignole 9:23) » Sestri Levante 10:28
if you travel southwards:
REG – Milano Lambrate 07:32 » Sestri Levante 10:28
if you travel westwards:
REG – La Spezia 09:50 – Sestri Levante 10:25
There’s a bus to Bargonasco right away, but chances are we’ll have to take the following one.
Return will likely be from Moneglia, probably around 5pm.
(*) if you buy your regional ticket online, watch out as Trenitalia added the nonsensical “check-in” feature, for the sake of making things more complicated. If you’re coming from afar, you may consider getting the 3 day regional pass for 29 euro. However, it seems like travelers from Milano can no longer benefit from the “Italia in Tour” ticket, since they added the restriction that it can’t be used in Lombardia.
More info about Masso’s wonders:
http://www.minieredoro.it/monte%20loreto.htm
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santuario_di_Nostra_Signora_di_Loreto_(Castiglione_Chiavarese)
https://primaillevante.it/tempo-libero/eventi/a-masso-mercatino-di-natale-e-villaggio-dei-presepi/
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As usual, if you have doubts, questions, Hamlet-like dilemmas… feel free to write me (at vidlothianATgmailDOTcom) or call me (at +39 329 7203364)
Liguriah 